Mumbai: Indian rupee fall against U.S. dollar which causes a huge increase in expenses for Indian students who study in various U.S. universities. On the contrary, rupee is still strong against Euro and Australian dollar, which may prompt many Indian students to shift focus to those countries. In the past year, there was an increase in tuition fees as well as travel and living expenses when rupee fell by 16 percent. Students and parents fear that if rupee falling continues they will have to pay over 20 percent more, reported Business Standard. For instance, Harsh Jumani, head of communications of a multinational company had to pay Rs.10.59 lakh($25,000), during the first semester of the four-year under graduation course in computer science, which his son is doing at Carnegie Mellon University. At that time the rupee was 42.37 to the dollar. But he will have to pay Rs.14.77 lakh ($30,000) if the rupee hovers at the October rate of $49.25. The impact will be greater if the rupee falls further. New York based International Institute of Education (IIE)'s annual 'Open Doors' report indicates that India sends the most number of students to U.S. India sent around 83,833 students to the U.S. during 2006-07, there was an increase by 10 percent compared to the previous year. China sent 67,723 students, up eight percent. The University of Southern California hosts the largest number of international students in US. Over all, Asia sends the largest number of students to U.S., accounting for 59 percent of total U.S. international enrollments, and increased by 5 per cent in 2007. Business remains the most preferred area of specialization, which is estimated by 18 percent and 15 percent specialization is happening in engineering field. "Students who are enrolling for the next academic year are hoping that situation will stabilize by then," said Vinayak Kamath, Director, Gee Bee Education, a Mumbai-based international education consultant. As rupee falling makes U.S. an expensive destination to study, together with the current U.S. economy crunch, Industry players foresee the students may look at new destination like U.K and Australia for higher studies. Kamath believes that this year could see growth in terms of student inflow as compared to U.S. ). The Higher Education Statistics Agency in the UK suggests that over 23,800 students visited UK for higher education degrees in 2006-07. Australia is the second-most popular international education destination for Indian students behind the U.S. According to data from Indo Australian Education Counselors (IAEC) over 63,000 Indian students went to Australia for higher studies in 2007.

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